


Runaway Heart

by Sakura_aki_star_rose



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 01:01:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6544093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakura_aki_star_rose/pseuds/Sakura_aki_star_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette and Adrien get assigned a school project together and afterward, start spending more and more time together, growing closer and closer...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I'm leaving!" I exclaimed as I was coming down the stairs from my room.

"Marinette, wait. I need to talk to you." A short woman with black bobbed hair said, standing next to the wooden dinning table.

"Oh, Maman, I promised to meet up with Alya before school." I replied, my hand already on the handle of the gray door.

"Marinette." Mom's voice was stern, which was very much unlike her. "This is serious. Come here."

I let go of the door handle and walked over to my mother. "What is it?" I asked, taking a seat at our small table. Mom looked down to the floor in thought, then directly into my eyes, her hair framing her face perfectly.

After a while of an awkward silence, she finally spoke. "Where did you go last night?" This question, although I was expecting it sooner or later, caught me off guard.

"W-what do you mean?" I replied, trying to play innocent. 

"Marinette, tell me. I won't get mad." Mom placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled gently. "I was a teenage girl once too, after all. Now, tell me, did you sneak out to see a boy? Adrien, perhaps?"

"M-maman!" I exclaimed, jumping out of my chair, my face burning. 

She laughed. 

"Judging by that reaction, it wasn't Adrien!" She said.

"I'm leaving!" I said quickly grabbing my bag and walking back over to the door. 

"Marinette, we aren't done talking about this."

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again. I just needed to go for a walk is all." I turned the handle of the door.

"Then why didn't you leave through the front door?" I opened the door and walked out.

"I didn't want to wake you, bye!" I quickly closed the door and let out a sigh.

"That was close!" Tikki said, sticking her little head out from my purse.

"Yeah, no kidding." I replied, walking down the stairs.

"But, going for a walk at eleven o'clock at night? Is that even practical?"

"Well, what was I supposed to tell her, Tikki? 'Oh, yeah I was out because I'm Paris's number one superhero and I was on patrol with my cat sidekick?' I don't think that would go over too well." Tikki giggled.

"Yeah, you're right!"

I opened the front door and immediately felt a chilly wind brush against my face. I shivered a little. 

"Winter is definitely coming soon, huh?" I said. I took a step onto the sidewalk and began to walk to the school. Luckily for me, I lived incredibly close to the school. As I approached the main entrance I saw Alya waiting by the stairs. 

"Alya!" I exclaimed. She turned to me.

"Where have you been? I thought we agreed to meet up early today." 

"I know! I'm sorry! My mom had to talk to me about something." I replied, as we climbed the steps to the school.

"About what?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing important! I just went for a walk pretty late last night and she thought I was sneaking out to see someone."

"Someone like Adrien?" 

"A-Alya!" She laughed.

"Well it would make sense... Considering you guys are working on that physics project together." I stopped dead in my tracks. Alya looked at me. "You DID start that project we were assigned, right?"

"WHAAAAAAAA!" My screams echoed through the empty school yard, as I collapsed to my knees. "How could I be such an idiot?!" 

"Calm down, girl. It's not that bad-"Alya, began.

"What do you mean?! It's awful! I was so busy with other things that I forgot all about the project!" I exclaimed. "I didn't work on it at all last night! The first project I get to work on with Adrien and I go and mess it up! Now he's going to hate me!" I whined as Alya gripped my arm and pulled me to my feet. 

"Pull yourself together!" She placed her hands on my shoulders and shook me lightly. "Do you really think Adrien's going to be mad? The project isn't due until Monday! You have all weekend to finish it. Now, take a deep breath, and relax." I sighed heavily, feeling my heartbeat slow down a bit. "Better?" I nodded. "Good. Now, get a grip on yourself and turn around."

"Why?"

"Hi, Adrien!" Alya said. My eyes widened in horror as Alya gave me a devilish smile.

"Hey, girls." I jumped out of my skin at the familiar voice coming from behind me. I unwillingly turned around, and felt my heart rate increase again as a pair of bright green eyes met my blue ones. I jumped backward and would have fallen over if it wasn't for Alya standing directly behind me. She gently pushed me back up so I was standing upright again.

"A-A-A-Adrien! H-Hi!You're -ah- here early today!" I somehow managed to stammer out. Adrien held his chin and raised an eyebrow at me, something he did often when I spoke to him.

"Well, yeah. I suppose I am." He replied, as I mentally beat myself up.

"Where's Nino?" Alya asked, attempting to prevent me from saying something stupid, again.

"I'm sure he's on his way." Adrien replied. He then turned his attention to me. "So, Marinette" He began. My heart was beating so hard, I was sure he could hear it."I was wondering, how much of the project do you have done so far?" My breathing hitched.

"P-p-project?! What project?" Another raised eyebrow in response. "Oh...OH! THAT project! Well I-I, uh, I-"

"Haven't started?" I could feel the worry fill my eyes. Adrien chuckled, then continued, "That's okay. I haven't either, so don't worry about it." His eyes darted away from me as he admitted this. "Anyway, since neither of us have started yet, do you want to schedule a time after school or this weekend we could get together and work on it?" My heart practically exploded when he asked this. I could feel the blood rush to my face and my lips quiver in anticipation as i ran through the potential responses in my head. However, my voice betrayed every one of those ideas.

"Y-yeah! I-I-, ah, love you-I MEAN- love TO! I-"

"She'll do it." Alya butted in, giving me a sympathetic smile. "You guys can do it at her house tomorrow."

"Okay... So, tomorrow at noonish then, Marinette?" Adrien replied, not seeming to be phased by my nonsense stuttering. I nodded to him in response. "Great!" Adrien quickly pulled out his phone and started to text away on it.

It was then that an arm snaked around Adrien's neck and pulled him into a headlock.

"Gotcha!" Nino exclaimed with a grin plastered on his face. He then proceeded to ruffle Adrien's hair. Adrien laughed and tried to pull away from Nino. 

"Okay! Okay! You got me!" Nino finally let him go. 

"Oh, hey girls." Nino said, acknowledging us.

"Hi, Nino." Alya replied, placing a hand on my shoulder "Well, it's about that time we head to class, don't you think, Marinette?" She asked.

"Yeah I think so too." Alya and I turned away from the boys and began to walk away. For one reason or another, I looked back to them. "See you later, Adrien!" I exclaimed with a smile. 

He stared at me wide eyed, obviously just as shocked at my actions as I was. His expression slowly turned into a tender smile.

"Yeah. Later, Marinette."He replied. I turned my head back around and blushed intensely.

"Where in the world did that come from?!" Alya whispered as we continued to walk to our class.

"I-I have no idea!" I admitted, my face still red. Alya laughed wholeheartedly.

"Geez, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?" She continued to laugh as we walked to class.


	2. Chapter 2

The bell rang loudly in my ears,indicating end of class and the beginning of the lunch break. Most of the students in the class quickly gathered their things and left the classroom. I was busy sketching away in my notebook, designing a dress for my class. Alya was speaking with Nino about something while Adrien was standing next to them. After they said their goodbyes and the boys began to leave, Chloe chased after them, yelling about an exclusive event or something.

Alya came up to me. "Hey," She began "You want to head to the park? We can go get smoothies or something."

"Sure, let's go!" I quickly closed my notebook and put everything back into my bag. " Oh, wait... I promised my dad I'd watch the bakery on my lunch break so he can go get some more supplies."

"That's fine." Alya replied, however, her tone told me that it wasn't.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Hm? No. It's fine. How about this, you go watch the bakery and I'll bring you a smoothie. Okay?"

"Uh, sure." Alya then left, without a goodbye.

"She's acting... Strange." Tikki said, popping her head out of my purse.

"You're telling me." I replied. "She wasn't like this earlier... Maybe I can get her to talk to me when she comes to the bakery."

I quickly placed my backpack onto my shoulders and walked out of the class. As I walked into the schoolyard I noticed a small group of my classmates surrounding Adrien, who looked really uncomfortable, and Chloe who attached herself to his arm. Nino was standing outside of the group, looking quite annoyed. I went over to him

"What's all that about?" I asked him.

"I have no idea. Chloe just came over to Adrien and started screaming about some sort of party." Nino crossed his arms. "Now she won't let him go." He sighed.

"What party?" I asked.

"I dunno, some rich people's party." Nino replied, then he looked around. "Alya's not with you?"

"No, she went to go get us smoothies. Oh, that reminds me I have to go. Bye!" I waved to Nino and ran out of the school yard.

I arrived home fairly quickly and entered the bakery.

"Marinette! Just on time." My father said, "Your mother and I are headed out."

"Alright. Oh, Alya's coming over." I said, placing my bag behind the counter.

"That's fine." Dad quickly took off his apron and placed it on a hook. "Sabine, Marinette's here, we're leaving."

"Coming!" My mother called from upstairs. I heard her tiny footsteps move across the upstairs and down the stairs.

"Marinette, there's some salad in the fridge if you and Alya want it." 

"Okay." I replied, taking out my sketchbook from my bag.

Both my parents quickly left the bakery, leaving me alone. Sort of.

Tikki flew out of my purse and sat on the counter.

"Mmmm! It smells like they are baking bread!" She giggled. "I love being able to come down here! It always smells so good!"

I smiled. "It's a bakery, Tikki." I said

"I know, I like it!" She glanced over to my book. "Wow! That dress looks beautiful! When are you going to make it?"

"Soon, hopefully. I mean, I have to. It's for my design class."

"Are you going to wear it?" 

"Probably not." I replied simply.

"Why not? You would look really good in it!"

"Tikki, when would I ever get a chance to wear a fancy dress like this?" I asked, putting my pencil down.

"Good point." 

It was then the bakery door opened and Alya came in, holding a purple smoothie in one hand and a pink one in the other. Tikki quickly hid in one of the display cases.

"Hey, girl, I got you a strawberry one." Alya said, handing me the pink one.

"Thanks!" I exclaimed, taking a sip of it.

"So..." Alya began, "I have a question for you. And I want an honest answer, no little white lies!"

"Okay, I got it." I replied, leaning my elbows on the counter and placing my chin in my hands.

"What...Do you think about... Nino?" Her eyes darted away from me.

"Nino...?" I repeated. Alya nodded. I thought about this for a little. I had never really spoken to him much, but from what I witnessed, he was a calm and collected person. " Well, he's cool," I began, "but I haven't talked to him much. Why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular!" This phrase caught my attention. Alya never, ever hid things from me.

"You sure?" I asked, more worried than intrigued. What was she hiding from me? And Why was she hiding it from me in the first place? 

"I'm sure. Don't worry about it." She said with a smile, as she sucked on the straw of her smoothie. "Anyway, you all set for tomorrow? Do you want me to come over before hand for moral support?"

"No, I think I can manage."

"Are you sure? This is the first time Adrien will be at your house. With you. Alone." Alya said, " Just don't say anything stupid otherwise you may scare him off." My eyes widened at this statement. Alya realized this and quickly covered her mouth. "Marinette, I'm kidding. Don't freak out-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN DON'T FREAK OUT?!" I exclaimed, as my hands pulled at my hair. "I'm going to say something stupid! You KNOW I am! I'm going to scare him away and he's going to hate me!" 

"Calm down, I was kidding."

"I don't care! It's going to happen!"

"What's going to happen?" Dad asked as he and Mom entered the bakery, their arms full of bags.

"Oh, nothing. Marinette's just freaking out about something." Alya said, grabbing my bag off the counter. "C'mon, we should head back."

"No!" I exclaimed "I can't now! W-w-what happens if I see him?!"

"Then you have me. Let's go." Alya grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the bakery's counter and out the door.

"No! Alya! No! Leave me here! I don't want to go back! NO!"


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, I woke up the next morning much earlier than I intended, I was able to take a shower, get dressed and have breakfast all before nine. Taking advantage of the peace and quiet, I turned on some music, I sat down at my desk, opened my sketchbook to the dress, and started to measure out some red fabric for it. I took a pair of scissors and cut the amount I needed, folded it in half and pinned it together. I then pulled out some black fabric and measured how much I needed for that and did the same as the red fabric. I then took the scissors and, on the black piece, started to cut the shapes that I needed. Tikki woke up a short time after I turned on the music.

"It looks nice so far." She said.

"Thanks, but I haven't even started on the main part yet. This is just the outer part." I replied.

"Oh." Tikki replied. "You should make one for me!"

"Maybe I should, you would look so cute in it!"

"You think so?" She asked.

"I know so! I'll make you a dress after I finish this one."

"Yay!" Tikki exclaimed.

I continued to work on the dress and loose myself in the music. I got to the point where I was ready to sew the entire dress together when I noticed someone put their hand beside my sketchbook.

"Wow. These are really impressive." A voice said. I glanced over to see who the hand and voice belonged to. My eyes were suddenly scanning pools of light green. "Hi."

"A-A-A-Adrien!" I exclaimed, as I jumped up, tripped on the leg of my chair and fell backwards, my head hit the floor with a thud. "ow..."

"Are you okay?!" He asked, moving my chair and leaning over me.

"Y-yeah." I replied, holding the back of my head. Adrien extended his hand to me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." I took his hand.

"Oh, no. Y-y-you just surprised me that's all." Adrien gently pulled me to my feet. " I wasn't e-expecting you so early!"

"Early?" He questioned. "I'm almost an hour late."

I looked at him in disbelief, then looked at the clock hanging up on the wall. He was right, it was already quarter to one.

"It's a-already that late?!" I exclaimed. "I didn't even notice!" I turned of the music and quickly started to put away the thread and scissors that I had been using.

"What are working on?" Adrien asked, helping me put away some of the things I was using. 

"Oh, ah, j-just something for...uh..s-school... um.. yeah." I replied, grabbing the dress and placing it on a mannequin on the other side of the room.

"It looks nice so far." He said, "You're really talented." 

"T-thank you!" I quickly looked away from him, as I could feel my cheeks burning and my heart pounding. I took a few deep breaths to try to calm down.

"Are you alright, Marinette?" Adrien asked, obviously noticing my odd actions.

"I-I'm fine!" I replied, turning to face him.

"But your face is red. Are you sick?" Adrien placed his hand on my forehead. My blush deepened and my heart pounded harder.

"N-n-n-no! I-I-I-I'm fine! Really, I'm fine!" I quickly moved away from him. "L-l-let's start on the project, okay?"

" Uh, sure."

I quickly turned on my computer and pulled out a large piece of dark pink poster board from underneath the table.

"Where should we start?" I asked.

"Hm. Well, we should start with the research." Adrien replied, "Mind if I use the computer?"

"Not at all!" I moved aside and Adrien sat down as the computer suddenly displayed a bight photo of Ladybug, one I had downloaded off of Alya's blog to replace the massive amount of Adrien photos I used to have as my home screen. Something I luckly thought of before he came over.

"A Ladybug fan, I take it?" Adrien asked, a bit of playfulness in his voice.

"Y-yeah! I think she's just to the coolest! I really look up to her, y'know!" I said with a smile on my face. 

Adrien laughed. "I can see that. I'm quite a fan of her myself." This, obviously, caught my attention.

"R-really?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah. There's just something about her, I don't really know what, but it makes me curious to know more about her." He stared at the the picture, his green eyes completely full of longing. "B-but of course, I'm a fan of Chat Noir as well!" He pried his eyes away from the screen to face me. "What do you think about him?"

"Me?! W-well, he's...interesting, I'll give him that. He's a huge flirt,though! And he never focuses at the job at hand. But he does have his good points. Er- from w-what I-I-I could tell... I o-only met him once, a-after all." I laughed awkwardly "He is kinda cute though." Adrien's eyes widened as I quickly covered my mouth. My mind screamed, Oh my god, did I really just say that?! To Adrien?! ADRIEN OF ALL PEOPLE?! What is wrong with me?! Oh, god. He probably thinks I'm a freak now. What am I going to do?! MY LIFE IS OVER!

"Cute?" Adrien repeated, then he chuckled a little. "Do you have a little crush on him or something?"

"W-w-w-what?! Of course not! I mean- not really- I mean of course not!" Adrien laughed.

"Seems like you do." He teased

"I do not!" I exclaimed. 

He laughed again. "Come on, we should get started." He said, "How about I start on the research and you start the poster? I have a feeling you'll do a much better job at the visual portion than I would." 

"All right."I said. I placed the poster board on to the desk. Adrien turned his attention to the computer and opened the browser. I pulled up a different chair and placed myself next to him as he typed away on the keyboard. His hands danced across the keys softly, yet quickly as his eyes scanned the screen. Every now and then he would glance over to me, probably trying to see how the poster was coming along.

I'm not sure how much time had passed, but I started to notice the sun start to set when I glanced out the window.

"Woah." I muttered.

"Something wrong?" Adrien asked as he finally finished typing up the report.

"N-no, it just got really late, that's all." I looked down at the poster and let a sigh. "I'm no where close to being done..." Adrien stood up and stretched his arms and legs out, then come over to my side.

"Wow." he said, as he leaned over the desk. "It looks amazing. You really are good at this stuff, huh? I'm kinda jealous."

"O-oh, no! Don't be! I'm sure you could have done just as well as I did!" 

He chuckled."No way. I'm not nearly as talented as you, Marinette."

"W-w-well I-,"

"Marinette!" I heard my mother call from downstairs, "Are you almost done? Dinner's almost ready!"

"Okay!" I called back. The I turned to Adrien. "Would you like to stay for dinner, Adrien?" I asked. He looked a little shocked and confused when I asked, but he then smiled shyly.

"M-may I?" He asked, obviously unsure of himself.

"Of course!" I exclaimed.

"Then yes. I would like to stay."

"Okay!" I stood up from my chair, walked over to the hatch that lead downstairs. "Maman!" I called, "Set a plate for Adrien, too!"

"Alright then!" She called back, "You two might as well come down. It's almost done."

"Okay, coming!" I looked over to Adrien. "We can finish after we eat, alright?"

"Ah, yeah." Adrien awkwardly walked over next to me. I started to walk down the stairs when I noticed that Adrien was still standing at the top of the stairs.

"What's wrong?" I asked, stopping half way down the stairs.

"Oh, nothing." he replied. I noticed he still was not moving. Then I realized that he might be scared.

Even though I hadn't known Adrien very long, there was one thing I noticed about him, he was extremely shy. I quickly remembered this and walked back up the stairs. Gathering all the courage I didn't know I had, I gently grabbed his hand.

"It's okay." I whispered. "My parents are really nice people!" I gave him the biggest, most sincere smile I had. He stared at me for a little, then nodded. I slowly lead him down stairs to the kitchen, still smiling brightly.


	4. Chapter 4

My mother's laugh echoed through my ears. "Oh, this one time when she was just a baby, Marinette almost-"

"M-maman!" I exclaimed, my face was beet red, "Please don't tell him THAT story!" I buried my face in my hands. She continued to laugh.

"But you were such a cute baby, Marinette!" I shook my head rapidly, still hiding my face. I heard Adrien laugh.

"I don't doubt that for a second!" He said. I blushed more that I thought possible when I heard him say this.

"Alright, alright. Calm down everyone." Dad said, as he carried in a small white frosted cake from the kitchen. "Who wants some cake?"

"I would like some, please." Adrien said.

"We'll take it upstairs, Papa." I said, as I stood up and took both Adrien's and my own plate to the sink. "We still have our project to work on."

"Oh! I don't think you need any cake, Marinette." Dad teased, "If you eat anymore, you may not be able to fit into all those nice clothes you make!"

"Papa! That's not funny!" I whined as I stomped my foot. Dad laughed, as he sliced two pieces of cake and put each on a small plate. I grabbed two forks and then the two plates. "Thank you!" I quickly gave my dad a kiss on the cheek, then walked over to Adrien and handed him a plate. "Let's go finish the project."

"Yeah." Adrien replied, he then addressed my parents, "Thank you for allowing me to join you for dinner!" My mother and father looked at eachother then back to Adrien.

"Anytime, Adrien!" Dad replied. "You're welcome to join us for dinner whenever you would like!"

"Or if you just want to hear more stories about Marinette when she was a baby-" Mom began.

"That's enough! Let's go Adrien!" I said, quickly running up the stairs. He followed. As soon as we were in my room, I placed my plate on the table and closed the hatch. "I'm so sorry about them."

"I don't mind. Actually, your parents are really cool. You all seem so...close." Adrien slowly looked down to the cake. I noticed his eyes were different than they had been before. They were cold, sad, lonely even. He took his fork and sliced a piece off of the cake and slid it into his mouth. A childish smile formed on his lips, and a bright sparkle came to his eyes. "This is really good!" He said. "It's been so long since I had a homemade dessert!" He took another bite. "I can see why your parents' bakery does so well."

"Yeah." I replied, sitting myself back down at the table. Adrien finished his slice of cake and came to join me, placing the plate on the table.

"How much do we have left to do?" He asked.

"We just have to glue the graphs and report onto it,and finish decorating it." I replied, pulling out gluestick from one of the drawers on the table. I reached over him to grab the four sheets of paper that sat next to the computer. It was then I noticed Adrien staring at something at the other side of the table, I followed his gaze to see my slice of cake. I giggled. "Do you want it?" He looked at me, confused. "The cake."

"N-no! It's fine!" He said. "It's your's."

"You can have it, I'm really not going to eat it." I replied. I was, after all, saving it for Tikki.

"A-are you sure, Marinette?"

"Yep! Go ahead and take it."

"Thanks." He said, quickly scooping up the plate and dug into the cake. The adorable smile returned to his lips

"You really like sweets, huh?" I asked, dragging the gluestick across one of the papers then carefully placing it onto the poster.

"Not particularly. But this cake is just so good, I can't resist." Noted. I thought to myself. "Besides, I can't really have this type of stuff at home..."

"Why not?" I asked, turning my full attention to him.

"My..." His eyes darted away from me "Father never lets me have this kind of stuff."

"What about your mother?" I asked. Adrien turned his head away from me and stared at the floor for a while. His eyes clouded over and I could see tears start to form. I quickly got the hint. "S-sorry." I turned my attention back to the task at hand. After a couple minutes of silence, I suddenly heard police sirens blaring from the outside. This caught both of our attention. "Now?" I muttered, quickly jumping up out of my chair.

"I-I'm, uh, going to see what's going on." Adrien said, getting up from his chair and opening the hatch to downstairs. He then practically flew down the stairs.

"Good." I said, closing the hatch behind him. "That saves me the trouble of having to come up with an excuse. Tikki!" Tikki flew out from under my bed. "Let's go!" Tikki nodded and was quickly sucked into my earring.

A bright pink light engulfed my body, as a thin red mask with black dots formed around my eyes. A light ran down my body, replacing my soft cotton clothing with a flexible almost metallic bodysuit, the colors matching those of my mask. Finally, a small yo-yo appeared, it's thin cord wrapped around my hips. The pink light disappeared and I quickly climbed the white stairs that led to my bed then hopped out of the hatch that lead to my balcony.

The sun had finally set and the stars shined brightly above me. I took a second to admire them when a siren brought my attention back to where it needed to be. I quickly hopped the railing of my balcony and ran toward the direction the sirens were coming from. They were leading me to the Eiffel Tower.

The first thing I saw when I got there was a colorful toy like robot that was almost half as tall as the tower. The second thing I saw was Chat Noir, hanging upside down by his leg in the hand of the robot, banging on the hand with his staff while he yelled. I sighed.

"Some partner I have." I muttered. I quickly threw my yo-yo so it wrapped around the robot's hand. The robot noticed me at this time, as well as Chat Noir.

"You're late, My Lady." Chat Noir said, still hanging upside down.

"Kitty," I started, placing my hands on my hips, "How on earth did you get yourself in this situation?"

"It wouldn't have happened if you were here on time." I rolled my eyes, and pulled on the string to my yo-yo, causing the robot to lose the grip it had on Chat Noir's leg. He fell and finally joined me on the ground.

"Did you at least figure out where the Akuma is?" I asked

"Oh, come on, My Lady. What do you take me for?" He replied. "It's in the wind up key in it's back."

"Great. So how do you think we'll get it out?"

"Hey, hey, that's YOUR part of the job." He shrugged. I sighed.

Suddenly, the robot started to move. It reached down to the ground and swipped across the ground, sending not only us, but all the policemen and cars flying through the air.

Chat Noir and I landed on our feet, only a few feet from each other.

"Chat Noir, I have things I need to do, so I want to finish this as fast as possible." I said.

"I couldn't agree more." He replied, "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm not sure yet." The robot started to walk, each step it took caused the ground to shake. "If we don't stop it now, it'll destroy half of Paris!" I gripped my yo-yo tightly. "Lucky Charm!" I exclaimed, tossing it into the air. Suddenly, a small ball of red yarn with black spots fell into my hands. "What? What in the world am I supposed to do with this?"

"Is that... Yarn?!" Chat Noir asked, his eyes sparkling. I quickly glanced around, taking notice of the Eiffel Tower, the silver key in the back of the robot, and Chat Noir. That was it.

"Hey, Kitty." I held up the ball of yarn, I heard him squeal a tiny bit. "Do you want to play?"

"Yes!"

"Okay then. Go and get it!" I chucked the yarn in the direction of the robot, Chat Noir followed it on all fours. "Geez, he's more of a dog than a cat." I then tossed my yo-yo up to the top of the tower and waited.

Chat Noir raced up in front of the robot, which noticed him, and reached down to try and swipe him away. It was then I swung around the tower and kicked the key out of the robot. The robot slowly lost power and fell face first to the ground, almost landing on Chat Noir. I landed beside the key and picked it up.

"Hey!" Chat noir exclaimed, holding the ball of, now tangled yarn. "What was that? You almost killed me!"

"But I didn't, did I?" I replied, "Also, don't you have nine lives anyway?"

Chat Noir crossed his arm. "I'll have you know that is a complete myth!" I rolled my eyes and broke the key over my knee.

"Time to come out you awful bug." I said, as a black butterfly flew out of the key. I traced a line upwards on my yo-yo, the two sides opened like a ladybug's wings. I started to spin it around by body, "I'll free you from evil!" I threw the yo-yo at the butterfly, it scooped it up and returned to my hand. I pressed down on it and the butterfly flew out. "Bye, bye, little butterfly!" I then looked toward Chat Noir, who was content with wrapping himself up in the yarn. I extended my hand to him. He looked at me with big sad eyes and shook his head slowly. I nodded my head in response. He pouted and unwrapped himself and hesitantly handed me the yarn. I threw it up into the sky. "Miraculous Ladybug!" I called as a flood of red hearts came through and put everything the way it should be. I heard the beeping of my earrings, so I fist bumped Chat Noir quickly and started to run off.

"H- hey! Ladybug!" He called.

"Later!" I called back, quickly running as far away as I could. As soon as I thought I was far enough, I slid into an alleyway and felt myself become Marinette once again. Tikki fell out of my earring and into my hands. She moaned from exhaustion. "I'm sorry, Tikki."

"No... It's fine." She replied. "Let's just go home."

"Okay." I placed her inside my purse and poked my head out of the alleyway. I started to walk back the way I came, just to make sure everything was taken care of. After a while I arrived back at the Eiffel Tower. Almost all the police cars were gone, indicating that everything was officially over. I sighed in relief as I continued to walk down the sidewalk.

I was suddenly regretting not choosing a spot closer to home to transform back into Marinette. I groaned and dragged my feet, which only slowed me down more. I just wanted to be home at that second, I wanted to climb into bed and just die there. But of course, I had to get there first. If only the buses ran at this hour. If only I had thought about this while I was still Ladybug. If only there was a faster way for me to-

"Princess?"

 

((A/N: I absolutely suck at writing action scenes, I'm so sorry! I tried my best! XC))


	5. Chapter 5

The chilling blew against my face as I held on to Chat Noir for dear life. "Y-you're going to fast!" I exclaimed, as he continued to hop from rooftop to rooftop, with me, bridal style in his arms. He glanced down to me with a devilish smile as he slowly picked up speed.

"You want to get home, don't you Princess?" He replied.

"Not if it costs me my life!" I shot back, my arms tightening their grip around his neck.

"Don't worry." He said, "I would never drop you." He winked.

"And why's that?" I asked, glaring at him slightly.

"Heh... there's a rumor going around that you have quite the crush on me, Princess."

"W-w-what?! What in the world makes you think that?!"

"What other reason could you possibly have to be walking around this late at night by the location where an Akuma just was?" Chat Noir asked, a smirk on his face.

"That's because I-" I quickly stopped myself.

"You...?" He mocked.

"I-I-I-"

"So it is true! You are madly in love with me!" He laughed loudly.

"I am not!" I exclaimed. I suddenly heard beeping coming from one of Chat Noir's hands.

"Uh-oh." He muttered, "I'd better pick up the pace!"

"What? No! Wait, Chat Noir!" It was too late, Chat Noir was moving even faster than before. I quickly tighten my grip around his neck again and buried my face into his leather covered chest. I was used to moving at this speed as Ladybug, but never as Marinette. So, naturally, as Marinette, I was terrified. I felt him pull me in a little closer.

"Don't be scared." Chat Noir said, his voice was much softer than it had been before. "I really won't drop you, Marinette." I peeked up from his chest, a little surprised he actually called me by my name for once, and saw he was looking down at me with soft eyes and a kind smile. "Hold on." I closed my eyes tightly as Chat Noir took a particularly large jump, landing gently on something that sounded like metal. "We're here, Princess."

I opened my eyes as he lowered me gently onto my balcony. He remained on the railing, taking a sitting position I could only describe as frog like.

"Thank you, Chat Noir." I said taking a few steps backward. "I really appreciate it."

"Heh, y'know, most princesses reward their knights with a kiss." He replied.

"Good bye, Chat Noir." I turned to face the wall.

"I'm not leaving until I get my reward." He said, joining me on the balcony. I heard the beeping if his ring.

"I don't think you have a choice." I responded, pointing at his ring. He noticed it and quickly started panicking.

He ran over to the railing and gripped it with both hands. Looking back over to me he said, "I'll be back for my reward later, Princess." He winked, then leaped over the railing. I placed my hands on my hips and rolled my eyes.

"His 'reward'?! Not likely." I scoffed.

"M-Marinette..." I heard Tikki's muffled voice say.

"Oh! Tikki, I'm so sorry!" I quickly opened the hatch that lead back into my room and jumped down onto my bed. "Let's see." I looked around my room. "There has to be something here for you to eat." I then spotted a piece of half eaten cake on my table. "Ah." I quickly climbed down the stairs and picked up the plate "Tikki, eat up." Tikki slowly flew out of my purse, sat on the plate and picked apart tiny pieces of cake. She popped each piece into her mouth.

I sat back in a chair and and yawned loudly.

"Tired, Marinette?" Tikki asked.

"A little." I replied smiling at her. "Those battles don't just tire you out, Tikki."

"That's true. But you typically handle them so well." She replied, putting another piece of cake into her mouth.

"Yeah." I yawned again. It was then I heard footsteps coming quickly up the stair "Tikki, hide!" She just looked at me. I picked up the plate with her on it, and quickly hid it under the table. The door opened barley after a second I completed this act.

"Sorry I took so long, Marinette." Adrien said as he climbed into the room.

"O-oh, th-that's fine." I replied as he walked over to the desk.

"Shall we finish up?" He asked, smiling at me with soft eyes.

"Y-yeah." Adrien sat down next to me as we each took a pencil in our hands and started to put the finishing touches on the poster.I notice him yawn multiple times as we did so.

It wasn't long before we were interrupted by a sudden ring of a cell phone. Adrien pulled one out of his pocket and moved to a corner of my room, facing away from me. I suddenly felt my eyelids become really heavy and before I knew it, I drifted away into darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

My eyes reluctantly opened as I slowly regained my consciousness. I whined quietly to myself as I stretched out my arms. It was then I realized that I wasn't in my bed, rather I was laying on my chaise, and was covered with a thin pink blanket. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then looked around the room to figure out why I wasn't in my bed. I turned my head to the side where my table sat and there I found my answer.

Adrien was sitting in a chair, and hunched over, his head resting my table. His back was raising and falling rhythmically.

"A-Adrien?" I muttered, completely unsure if I was dreaming or not. After I concluded that I was in actual reality and not in a subconscious fantasy, I slowly stood up and quietly made my way over to Adrien. I studied him for a little, noticing how peaceful his face was while he slept. However, something under his head caught my eye. It was our project, completely finished. The only thing was, I don't remember finishing it.

"I must have fallen asleep before I finished it." I whispered to myself, "And then he must have-" My cheeks began to burn as I realized he must have been the one to move me to the chaise and cover me with the blanket. Just the thought of me being in Adrien's arms was enough to cause my stomach to flutter.

After I was able to calm down and get my heartrate under control, I decided it was time to wake him up. I gently placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Adrien." I said softly, shaking him, gently. "Adrien, wake up." He moaned and turned his head the other way. I sighed with a smile on my face. "Adrien, come on." I shook him a little harder. He moaned again, then his eyes slowly opened. "Good morning." I said.

Adrien stared at me with a confused look on his face. He studied me for a second, then his eyes widened in sudden realization. "M-Marinette?" He asked. I smiled. "Oh no." Adrien muttered as he sat up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. His eyes scanned the screen and suddenly filled with worry. "Oh no." He repeated, quickly standing up from the chair.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I-I should have left last night." He muttered. It was then we heard muffled talking coming from down stairs. I recognised my mother's and father's voices, but there was a female voice that I didn't recognise.

"Nathalie." Adrien muttered, moving over to the hatch. He pulled up on it and slowly started to walk the stairs. I followed close behind.

"I assure you, he is not here." I heard my mother say, as we got closer to the end of the staircase, the scene unfolded to us.

My mother and father were standing by the front door, blocking entry from a tall, thin, mature looking woman.

"He must be." The woman replied. "He did not return home last night, nor did he call for his chauffeur."

"I knew this would happen." Adrien whispered. It was then the woman looked in our direction.

"Adrien." She said. My mother and father turned to the staircase, their eyes widened in disbelief.

"Hey, Nathalie." Adrien responded.

"Is there a reason you did not return last night?" Adrien stayed silent. "I see... Your father will talk to you when you get home." Something changed about Adrien when his father was mentioned, I'm not sure what it was but just the feel around him changed. "Let's go." He slowly climbed down the remaining stairs.

"Adrien..." I muttered, he glanced back up to me and gave me a small, sad smile.

"There is no excuse for your irresponsibility." The woman began to say "You missed an important photoshoot, as well as-"

"It wasn't his fault!" I exclaimed suddenly. Everyone looked at me in shock.

"Oh? If it wasn't his fault," The woman said, " Then whose was it?"

"...Mine." I replied, shyly.

"Marinette..." Adrien whispered, wide eyed.

"W- we were working on a project for school, and I ended up falling asleep. Adrien probably didn't have the heart to wake me up, so he took the burden of finishing the project by himself. He... must have fallen asleep while doing it." I stopped and looked Nathalie right in the eye. "So if anyone's to blame, it's me!"

Nathalie looked at me. She then closed her eyes, and a slight smile formed on her lips. "Very well then. I'll bring it up to Mr. Agreste." She said. "Let's go, Adrien." Adrien turned to Nathalie and nodded, he glanced back to me one last time before walking over to her. They left in an hurry. I let out a relieved sigh as I sat on the stairs.

"Marinette." My mother said, joining me on the stairs. "Is what you said to that woman the truth?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, a little confused. "Of course it was the truth."

My mother looked directly into my eyes. "Are you positive?"

"Yes." I replied, matching her stare. "Why?" Mom smiled sweetly, and shook her head.

"Oh, no reason." She said, as she stood up. "What do you want for breakfast?" I shrugged. "I'll think of something, then." She then went into the kitchen, using a hand gesture to get my father to follow her, which he did. I found this odd, but decided to head back up into my room, anyway.

As I closed the door to my room I heard my phone beep. I quickly made my way to the table where it sat. I picked it up and was surprised to see Adrien's picture with a small letter like icon flash across my screen.

"When did he get my number?" I asked myself, remembering that Alya gave me his, but I never gave him mine. I dragged my finger across the screen, unlocking it, and tapped on the letter icon. It was an simple message, not long or wordy, but short. Even so, it made my stomach flutter in an way that was different than it had before, and my cheeks burned much hotter than before.

''Thank you :)" Was all the message said.


	7. Chapter 7

"Girl, I'm so proud of you!" Alya shouted, gripping my shoulders and pulling me close to her. She flattened the rolled poster board I had in my hand by accident.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I asked, pulling her hands away from me and taking a step back, and fixing the poster.

"Don't act like you don't know!" She replied. I stared at her, a bit confused. She sighed. "Nino told me what you did for Adrien."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm talking about how you totally stood up for Adrien yesterday!" Alya adjusted her glasses as she said this. "I didn't know you had that in you." She laughed. I smiled at her.

"You said it yourself." I responded, "I'm just full of surprises... I am grounded though." Alya gave me a sad look.

"But it was worth it, right?" She asked.

"Of course!" We laughed as we started to walk up the steps into the school as Alya continued to fawn over my actions yesterday.

"Marinette!" The call of my name caught my attention. I glanced behind me to see Adrien stepping out of a small sliver car.

"Later." Alya said, quickly walking into the school.

"W-wait A-Alya!" I called, reaching out to her, but she was gone. Adrien came running up to me.

"Hey." He said, panting a little.

"H-hi." I replied. An awkward silence fell between us. I bit my lip as Adrien slowly rubbed the back of his head. After a few moments he spoke.

"Look... I really appreciate what you did." He began, "No one's ever really stood up for me like that. But you..." he stopped and looked down to the ground. "Marinette, you... didn't have to take the blame."

"It's fine!" I assured him, "I didn't want to see you get into trouble... besides when you think about it, it really was my fault."

"No, Marinette, it wasn't." He gently placed a hand on my shoulder and he stared into my eyes. "But still, thank you."

"No problem." I replied, "What are friends for?" Adrien's eyes widened.

"Friends?" He repeated, obviously shocked by my statement. I immediately started to panic.

"Er- a-a-are we not fr-friends?" I asked, "I mean it- it's fine if we're n-not. I-I-I mean I would love it if we were er- u-u-unless you d-d-d-don't want to be."

"N-no!" Adrien exclaimed, "We are friends, Marinette! We are!" He said this as if he was trying to convince himself that it was true. "Is that the project?" He pointed to the poster in my arms.

"Uh, yeah!" I replied.

"Let me take it." He reached for it.

"Oh, uh, you don't have to!"

"I don't mind." Adrien responded, taking the poster into his hand. "It's a little crushed."

"Y-yeah, that was Alya's doing." I smiled

"A-anyway, I should go find Nino. He said he had to tell me something so, I'll see you later." Adrien started to walk up the the stairs, then quickly turned back to me. "Oh, Marinette, did I leave... something at your house?"

"A-at my house?" I asked, he nodded. "Not that I know of." He looked a little irritated when I said this. "B-but I'll keep my eye out for it..."

"I think it would be better if I looked for... it" Adrien muttered.

"Well, I would invite you over again... but I'm kind of grounded." I whispered the last part.

"You're Grounded?!" Adrien said in shock. "Was it... because of... me?"

"N-no! O-of course n-n-not!" I said quickly. Adrien looked down to his feet.

"I'm sorry." He said, then quickly turned away from me, almost as if he was ashamed of himself.

"Adrien-,"

"I'll see you later, Marinette." He quickly walked into the school.

"Wait, Adrien!" I called, but he was already gone. "Tikki... do you think Adrien's blaming himself for what happened yesterday?"

"Um..." Tikki popped her head out of my purse. "It looks that way. Maybe he's feeling guilty about you taking all the blame."

"Yeah, that's was I was thinking too. But... I don't want him to feel like that." I sighed. Then continued to walk up to the stairs.

When I arrived into the school yard and was greeted by a great number of my classmates standing in a circle, talking. I noticed that Alya was part of this group. She had her phone out and was no doubt filming something for her blog. When I got closer, all there attention was on me.

"Marinette!" Rose exclaimed, "Tell us how it happened!"

"How what happened?" I asked. Alya then came rushing up to me.

"How come you didn't even tell me, your best friend?!" She asked, shoving her phone in my face.

"T-tell you what?" I responded.

"Oh, come on, Marinette." Juleka said. "Tell us about your mystery date with Chat Noir."

"W-w-w-w-what?! W-what are y-you guys talking a-about?!" I

"Well, Max told Rose, who told Juleka, who told Kim, who to Sabrina, who told Chloe, who told everyone else that Alix saw you riding bridal style in Chat Noir's arms!" Alya explained, "Is it true?!"

"What?! No! That's not true at all!" I replied.

"What's not true?" Nino asked, standing unusually close to Alya Adrien came up behind him, smiling at Alya. She smiled back to him. At least he seems like he's okay... I thought.

"Oh! Adrien! Perfect timing!" Alya exclaimed, now shoving the phone in his face, "You were with Marinette all weekend, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Pretty much." He replied, trying to push Alya away. "We were working on a project."

"Was there, at any time, a chance for Marinette to sneak out to see her secret lover?"

"Alya!" I yelled.

"'Secret lover'?" Adrien said, questioningly.

"Chat Noir." Alya clarified.

"Ch-Chat Noir?!" He said, "What makes you think that?"

"Alix said she saw Chat Noir carrying Marinette."

"I was with her the whole time." Adrien quickly glanced over to me. "The whole time."

"Y-you were?" Alya sounded disappointed as she lowered her phone. "Aww! Here I am thinking I had a juicy story and- aaah." She hung her head as the circle of classmates, who also looked disappointed, disbursed. Nino went over to Alya and patted her on the back, she smiled up at him. Adrien was looking over to them, a small grin on his lips. Suddenly, Nino and Alya started laughing. This raised my suspicions.

"Wait a second... Am I missing something?!" I asked. Everyone glanced over to me.

"Wait... did you seriously not tell her?" Nino asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure I did... We were talking about something, then Adrien came over and... Oops, I guess I didn't tell her." Alya replied.

"Tell me what?!" I asked. Alya and Nino looked at eachother and smiled.

"Well, you see Marinette...we, ah, we're..." Nino began, then glanced to Alya. She rolled her eyes.

"Nino and I are-"


	8. Chapter 8

"DATING?!" I exclaimed, face planting directly onto my table. "They're... dating."

"Yes, Marinette." Tikki replied, biting down on a cookie. "We've been going through this all morning."

"I know... I just can't believe it."

"Why not? There were obvious signs they liked each other." My head shot up to look at Tikki.

"There were?!" Tikki looked at me, then smiled.

"Of course there were! Did you not notice?" I shook my head. "Really?!" Tikki giggled. "That actually doesn't surprise me. You can be so dense sometimes, Marinette!"

"Hey!" I responded. "I am not dense." She giggled again.

"But aren't you happy for them?"

"Yeah..." I muttered.

"That... Wasn't very enthusiastic."

"I know... I just feel like... I don't know... I feel like this is going to end up like one of those cheesy chick flick movies that you watch when you have nothing better to do."

"What do you mean?" Tikki asked.

"You know, girl meets boy, they start dating, and the girl forgets all about her friend." I replied, sighing to myself.

"Do you really believe that?" Tikki asked, "Do you really think Alya would forget about you?"

"I don't know..."

"Marinette, she's your best friend! She would never do such a thing." Tikki said. "But look on the bright side, you'll get to spend more time with Adrien!" I smiled at this.

"Yeah." I replied, I glanced over to my clock. "We should head back." I stood up from the table and grabbed my backpack. "Let's go, Tikki."

Tikki glanced over to something by the back of my computer then quickly flew back into my purse as I put my backpack on. I quickly began to walk down my stairs when my father came out from around the corner.

"Marinette, did you eat the camembert that was on the counter?" He asked.

"No." I replied. "I hate the smell of that stuff."

"Hmm... then where could it be? I was sure I left it on the counter" Dad muttered as he went back into the kitchen. I watched him leave, then continue to walk down the stairs. I walked over to the front door, opened it, and walked out. I sighed as I began my short journey back to the school building. I really didn't want to go back.

I was really upset about the fact that Nino and Alya were now a couple. It wasn't as though I wasn't happy for them, I truly was and I supported them one hundred percent, it just came as a shock to me. I didn't think that Nino had any interest in Alya, and she never told me about liking Nino. I think it was that part that hurt the most. Alya never told me anything about even having an interest in anything other than what Ladybug was up to.

"Maybe... I don't know her as well as I thought I did." I thought, unknowingly, out loud. "Should she even call me her best friend...?" I suddenly felt sick to my stomach as I stopped walking. Can she even call me a friend? I sighed pathetically.

"Oh, is poor little Marinette depressed?" A snooty, teasing voice from behind me said. It was followed by a meek sounding giggle. I didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.

"Go away, Chloe." I responded, starting to walk again. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you."

"Excuse me?!" Chloe shouted.

"You heard me." I quickly got as far away from her as I could, even though it was obvious we were going to the same class. Chloe continued her verbal assault on me, picking at everything from my hair, to my clothes, to my designs as Sabrina giggled. Please just leave me alone. I was so close to snapping by the time I reached the door of my physics class. I leaped into the class as if it were my safe haven. Chloe and Sabrina came in after me, still spewing comments at me. Alya noticed this.

"Hey!" She yelled, crossing her arms against her chest. "How about you take your little fan girl and sit your butt down before I beat it." Chloe glared at her, and was going to say something back when the teacher entered the room and told everyone to sit down, which we did. The teacher then started to talk about the projects we had and which pairs were presenting in which order.

"First will be Kim and Alix, then Rose and Nathanael, Alya and Juleka will be third, then Adrien and Marinette, and last for today will be Chloe and Sabrina." Adrien looked up to me and nodded his head when our names were mentioned. I smiled back to him. The teacher turned and started to write the order on the board. "Everyone else will go tomorrow. Now, let's begin!"

Kim and Alix walked, well more like raced, up to the front of the class and showed their poster. It was... interesting to say the least. To me, it looked rushed, the title at the top was crooked, the graphs were lopsided and the report was definitely less than the one page minimum. No doubt they spent their entire time fighting with each other rather than working. Even during their presentation they were arguing. When they finally finished, the class clapped awkwardly as they returned to their seats.

The teacher moved back over to the board and crossed off the names at the top of the lists, and the next pair of partners went up to the front.

Rose and Nathanael's poster was cute. It was obvious that Rose was the planner, but Nathanael did all the decorating.

Suddenly, the door of the classroom crashed open and the sound of Rose's screams filled my ears.


	9. Chapter 9

"What the heck was that?!" Kim asked. "Where on earth did it come from?!"

"Who cares! It took Rose!!" Juleka exclaimed.

The entire class was surrounded by the, now broken, window. Most of them were freaking out at what we all hadwitnessed. Alya had her phone out, no doubt getting the entire thing on video for her blog, while Nathanael wassketching away quickly in a notebook. The principal came running into the room.

"What on earth happened?!" He asked.

"A creature of some sort had just broken into the classroom and ran off with Rose!" Juleka replied, "We have to find her!"

"Did anyone get a good look at it?" Most of the class shook their heads.

"Guys," Nathanael muttered, then he showed the picture he had been drawing. It was of a lizard like creature, thatstood up on two legs, with spikes that lined it's back. It also had a long tail with a spike covered ball at the end. The class gasped as Alya got a close up of the picture.

It was then I decided I had to do something. I slowly backed away from the group, making sure that no one would notice me leave. I quickly ran into the girl's bathroom, checked all the stalls, and locked the door.

"Tikki, come on, we have to find Rose!" I said. Tikki flew out of my purse and nodded. "Let's go!"

Tikki was sucked into my earring, five black dots appeared, and a bright pink light engulfed my body. A red mask appeared around my eyes, as a light ran down my body, and a metallic bodysuit formed. The last thing to form was the yo-yo around my waist.

I quickly left the bathroom and ran through the halls of the school. As I was about to pass my physics class, Alya came running out the door excitedly.

"Ladybug!" She exclaimed, her hands shaking as she held her phone. "I knew you would come here!" A few of my other classmates came running out. This included Adrien. A few of them screamed in excitement when they saw me. Juleka came up to me.

"Please," she begged, a worried look in her eye, as she gripped my arm gently. "My friend Rose... she was taken by... by..." tears started to flood down her cheeks. I had never seen Juleka so worried. In fact I had never seen her so emotional at all. I placed my hands on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," I assured her. "I will get her back." I smiled at her. She nodded slowly as I pulled her hand away.

"Do any of you know where the creature went?" I addressed the other students. Most of them shook their head.

"I saw." Adrien said, "It was headed toward the park." I stared at him, then nodded.

"Thank you." I said then continued to run down the hall. I noticed that I was being followed by both Alya, who was still filming, and Adrien. I stopped running and turned to them. "You two should stay here." I said.

"No way!" Alya replied, "I gotta film everything for my blog!"

"I don't have time to argue with you, your classmate is in trouble. Please, just stay here."

"No." Alya replied, a determined spark in her eye. I sighed in defeat. I really didn't want to argue with her, especially since Rose was missing. I glanced at Adrien, who had the same spark of determination in his eye.

"Fine." I agreed, "Just promise me you both will keep your distance. Chat Noir can be quite reckless with his staff. The last thing I need is you two getting hurt!" Adrien started to rub the back of his head awkwardly as I said this.

"Got it." Alya replied, giving me a quick thumbs up. I sighed and quickly returned to run out of the school. I turned in the direction of the park. It wasn't long after I entered the park when I found Rose. She was completely calm, as she sat on a small red blanket across a large green creature that looked almost identical to the one Nathanael had drawn. Rose smiled happily at the creature as she picked up a small triangular sandwich.

"Thank you!" She said. I slowly approached them, Alya and Adrien not far behind me.

"R-Rose?" I asked, thinking she must have been under some sort of Akuma spell. She looked over to me.

"Oh, Ladybug! And Adrien and Alya too! Is Chat Noir not with you Ladybug? Oh well ,it's still nice to see you! Would you like to join our little picnic?" She asked.

"O-oh, no thank you." I replied. It was then the creature noticed us. It stood up and turned to face us. It let out a devilish roar, and swung it's tail at us. I swiftly jumped out of the way, grabbing Alya's and Adrien's wrists as I did.

I ran them over outside the fence of the park.

"Stay here." I commanded them. When ran back to face the creature, I found Rose hugging it gently as she whispered quietly to it. "What in the world...?" Rose looked up to me. The creature turned and let out it's roar again.

I quickly covered my ears, then noticed it start to spit some sort of green liquid at am, some of it hit my feet. I suddenly felt like there were large weights on my feet, and I would barely lift my legs. It was then the tail coming at me.

A sharp pain flowed through my chest as I flew backward and slammed against a tree. I slid down the tree on to the ground.

"Ladybug!" I heard Alya yell. The tail started to rise again.

"Watch out!" Adrien yelled, racing in front of me. The next thing I knew, Adrien was flying through the air, landing on the other side of the park.

"ADRIEN!" I screamed, tear formed in my eyes as I saw how hard he had landed. I glared at the creature, and struggled to my feet. I started to swing my yo-yo, when Rose suddenly ran in front of the creature, holding her hands out.

"Wait!" She exclaimed, "Don't hurt him!" She turned to the creature and placed her hand on it's head. It calmed to her touch. I stared at her, utterly confused. "He's just frightened!"

"He...?" I asked. Rose nodded.

"He's my little cousin." She pointed to a small dinosaur shaped necklace hanging off the neck of the creature. "I got him that necklace for his birthday. I promised him we'd play together, but I had to go to school first... Please, Ladybug, help him!"

"I will." I replied. I walked up to the creature and reached up to the necklace, he growled at me. I pulled my hand back, gripped my yo-yo tightly, then threw it up into the sky. "Lucky Charm!" Suddenly a blanket fell out of the sky. I looked at it questioningly, then Rose quickly grabbed it out of my hands and wrapped the head of the monster with it. It calmed down to the point it sat on the ground and started to fall asleep. Rose then slipped the necklace off and tossed it to me. I crushed it in my hand and a black butterfly came flying out of it. I traced a line upwards on my yo-yo, the two sides opened like a ladybug's wings. I started to spin it around by body, "I'll free you from evil!" I threw the yo-yo at the butterfly, it scooped it up and returned to my hand. I pressed down on it and the butterfly flew out. "Bye, bye, little butterfly!" Rose handed me the blanket back. I threw it up into the sky. "Miraculous Ladybug!" A flood of red hearts came flying through, fixing the necklace. I saw the monster transform into a little blond haired boy, no older than five. Rose scooped him up in her arms and cradled him.

"Thank you, Ladybug!" Rose exclaimed," I'm going to bring him home!" Rose grabbed the necklace off off the ground and walked out of the park.

I quickly turned to the direction Adrien had fallen to see him standing, holding one of his arms with a little blood coming from the side of his head. I raced over to him.

"Are you all right?!" I asked.

"Yeah... don't worry about me. I've dealt with worse, My La- er, Ladybug." Adrien replied.

"That was so cool!" Alya came running over to us. "Adrien, you are much tougher than I thought! And Ladybug you were absolutely amazing, like always, of course! And the best part, I got all of it on video! What a scoop! The only thing missing is... well, Chat Noir."

"M-maybe he had his own mission to complete." Adrien said quickly, obviously trying to ignore the small amount of blood streaming from his temple and cheek. I stared at him, feeling awful.

"I'm sorry." I muttered. He smiled at me.

"Don't worry about it. After all there's something else you should be worried about." Adrien pointed to my earrings. I hadn't even noticed the beeping. I immediately began to panic. I ran out of the park, regrettably leaving behind Adrien.


	10. Chapter 10

"It was so cool, Mari!The only thing missing was Chat Noir...where was he? Ah, who cares. There's this one part that I HAVE to show you!" Alya exclaimed, shoving her phone in my face, the video she shot earlier was playing on her screen. "Did you see that?! Adrien totally protected Ladybug! I can't believe he did that!"

"Yeah, neither can I..." I muttered this more to myself than to Alya as we walked along the side of the school.

"Adrien was so beat up they sent him home early!" Alya continued. "You totally missed your chance to care for him!"

"Yeah..." I stared at the ground.

"What's wrong?" Alya asked, obviously noticing my lack of enthusiasm.

"It's nothing..." I replied, "Don't worry about it."

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you know I'm not going to let this go with that type of response. Especially when you've been acting weird all day." Alya placed a hand on my shoulder and we stopped walking. "Come on, tell me what's bugging you." I looked up to her as I felt the warm rush of tears form in my eyes. "Marinette..."

"I... I...I can't tell you." I whispered.

"Why not?" She asked, I looked away from her.

"I-I just can't, okay?"

Alya smiled at me and said, "Okay. I get it. You can tell me when you're ready." Alya pulled me into a warm hug. "You'll always be my number one priority, Mari." My eyes widened. "I noticed how hesitant you were with Nino earlier. I just want you to know that no matter what happens, I will be here for you. I promise." I hadn't even noticed I started crying, but I sobbed into Alya's shoulder as she gently stroked the back of my head. That wasn't even the reason I was upset, even so, hearing her say those words were enough cause me to fall apart.

After a few minutes, I finally stopped crying and pulled away from Alya. She smiled back to me. I felt as though a thousand bricks were removed from my shoulders.

"Better?" Alya asked.

"Yes!" I replied, smiling. "Much better!"

"See? Sometimes crying can solve your problems." We laughed as we resumed walking. Alya and I soon went our separate ways.

I slowly opened the front door of my house and quickly went inside. I closed the door behind me and walked up to the stairs to the other door that lead into the actual household. I opened that door and close it behind me as well. I knew both my parents were downstairs in the bakery, as they always were. I let out a loud sigh and tossed my backpack onto the couch. I really didn't want to deal with my homework right now, I just wanted to crawl into a ball. Although crying with Alya made me feel a little better than before, I still felt extremely guilty about letting Adrien get hurt. It stung my heart as I thought about it. I felt like crying again, when suddenly I heard a loud crash coming from my room, almost like glass shattering. Tikki popped her head out of my purse.

"What was that?" She asked.

"I don't know." I replied. "Tikki, get ready." Tikki nodded. I slowly made my way up the staircase to my room, then opened the hatch to my room to see shards of glass on my bedroom floor right by my table. I stepped into my room and inspected the shards. It was then I noticed it was an old vase I had. I looked at it questioningly, knowing that it used to sit far enough away from the edge of the table that there was no possible way for it to just have fallen over. I shrugged, then swiftly ran back downstairs to grab a broom and dustpan.

As I started to sweep up the glass, I noticed something black move behind my computer out of the corner of my eye. I looked over, wondering if it were just my imagination, then finished sweeping up the glass and threw it away. I walked over to my computer, curious to see what I thought saw move. I honestly didn't expect to see anything, but I looked behind the computer monitor anyway.

It was then I saw it. A small black creature with cat-like ears, nibbling on a piece of cheese. I let out a shriek of surprise and tripped over my own two feet and fell backwards onto the floor.

"Woah, woah, no need to scream my ears off." The creature said, flying out from behind the computer. He looked around for a little, then noticed me on the floor. His green tinted eyes widened then started to chuckle. "Wow, Tikki. I would think you would have chosen someone with a little more... grace to be Ladybug." Tikki flew up to it.

"Who I choose to be Ladybug is none of your business, Plagg." Tikki replied. I looked at Tikki, confused. She turned to me. " Marinette, this is Plagg. He's a Kwami, like me."

"A Kwami?" I repeated. Tikki nodded.

"For Chat Noir." Plagg said, tossing the piece of cheese into his mouth. I quickly jumped to my feet when he mentioned this.

"W-w-w-wait! You're Chat Noir's Kwami?! What on earth are you doing here?!" I asked.

"You tell me, sweet cheeks." Plagg replied, "I just woke up here the other day."

"Other day? YOU'VE BEEN HERE FOR DAYS?!"

"Yep." I stared at Plagg, my mouth hung open. Chat Noir's Kwami had been in my house for days and I had no idea.

"Well, at least it makes sense as to why he wasn't there when that Akuma showed up." I said.

"What Akuma?" Plagg asked.

"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is getting you back to Chat Noir." I said.

"How do you expect to do that? You'll have to figure out who he is." Tikki said.

"I'll tell you who he is. He's Adr-" I quickly covered Plagg's mouth.

"No." I said as I shook my head. "I don't want to know who he is. I want our identities to remain a secret. With that said, you have to promise me that you will not tell him who I am."

Plagg pushed my hand away and asked, "Why is that? Believe it or not Chat Noir has been trying to figure out who you are forever now, why not let him know?"

"I... I just don't want that, okay?" I replied.

"Okay, okay. So if you don't want to know who Chat Noir is... then how do you expect to get me back to him?" I thought about this for a little. Plagg had a point. How was I going to get him back without knowing CHat Noir's identity.

"Well, I guess you would just ride around in my bag, and if you see him, just go to him." I muttered, unsure of myself.

"That actually might work." Plagg said.

"Y-you think so?!" I asked.

"Yeah, considering... " Plagg stopped.

"Considering...?"

"Nothing. Anyway I have one condition for keeping your secret."

"And what's that?" I asked.

"Camembert."


	11. Chapter 11

"Tikki," I called, frantically searching my table. "Have you seen my sketchbook?"

"No, not since yesterday." Tikki replied. I placed my hands on my hips and I glanced around my room.

"Where would it have gone?" I looked at my clock. "Well, I don't have time to look for it now." I quickly placed my pink backpack onto my table and crammed it with multiple notebooks and pencils. I arranged them in a way so that there was enough space for Plagg to sit without the books falling ontop of him. "Plagg." I called, the small Kwami was nowhere in sight. "Plagg?" I called again. I crossed my arms, "Plagg, come on, we don't have time for this."

"Marinette, he's over here." Tikki called from under my bed. I quickly climbed the stairs and peaked under my bed. Sure enough, Plagg was laying under it, asleep on top of my sketchbook. I sighed and picked him and my sketchbook up slowly. He awoke at the sudden movement.

"Hey, what's the big idea, sweet cheeks? I was having a wonderful dream about a sea of melted Camembert." Plagg said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I have to go to school." I replied, "And would you stop calling me sweet cheeks?" I swiftly, but carefully, shoved Plagg into my backpack.

"Hey! What about my Camembert?" I zipped it up tight and placed it onto my back.

"Come on, Tikki." Tikki quickly flew into my purse. I left my room and walked down the stairs.

"Oh, Marinette." Dad said, holding three circular shaped tins. "Here's that Camembert you wanted." He held out the tins to me. I took them. "But... I thought you hated Camembert."

"O-oh, I do, but... Alya loves it!" I lied, "Anyway, thank you Papa!" I gently kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you at lunch!" I quickly left before he could ask any more questions. I unzipped my bag and tossed the three tins of cheese into it. Plagg let out a cry of happiness. "Now you have to keep your part of the deal." I whispered into the bag.

"Yeah, yeah. I won't tell Chat Noir who you are... Hey that rhymed! I'm a poet and didn't even know it!" Plagg bursted out laughing. I rolled my eyes. Well, I thought, At least I know where Chat Noir gets his sense of humor from. I rezipped the bag and continued my walk to the school.

The crisp fall air brushed against my cheeks and I immediately regretted not wearing a jacket, as I was starting to see my own breath. I rubbed my arms, trying to warm myself up as walked up the stairs into the school.

I entered the classroom to see Sabrina and Chloe crowding around Adrien as he sat in his typical spot in the front row. Alya and Nino stood to the side of them. I walked over to see Adrien, who looked pretty normal, besides the two large scratches on his face, one on his temple, the other on his cheek, and one of his hands bandaged up to the elbow. I immediately felt my stomach knot and an overwhelming feel of guilt filled me to the brim. I passed the group, avoiding eye contact with Adrien, and took my usual seat behind him and put my head down.

"I can't believe Ladybug left without thanking you!"I heard Chloe say, "How inconsiderate!"

"I don't think you have the right to call anyone inconsiderate." I heard Nino mutter, Chloe scoffed.

"Whatever! Just look at Adrien's face, he's going to have scars after those heal! I don't care how cool Ladybug is, she had no right to leave you there like that!"

"It's fine Chloe. It's not a big deal, besides, she didn't really have a choice." I heard Adrien say. I smiled to myself, but still felt awful.

A warm hand suddenly started to pat me on my back. I glanced up to see Alya, smiling down to me, as she took her spot beside me.

"You okay?" She asked, her question grabbing both Nino and Adrien's attention. Again, I did my best to avoid eye contact with him.

"I'm fine." I replied.

"You don't seem fine." Nino remarked.

"I am." I said, with more attitude than I meant. "I just..." I sighed, and placed my head back down. "Don't want to talk right now." Alya and Nino apparently got the hint and quickly started talking about other topics.

"Marinette..." I heard Adrien say. Chloe's voice drowned his out as she started to talk about some party they both were supposed to attend or something. Soon after, the teacher came in and asked everyone to take out their notebooks.

I picked my head up and unzipped my backpack. I was greeted with three empty tins of Camembert and missing Plagg and sketchbook.

"Plagg?" I whispered as quietly as I could while I shifted around my items in my bag. Maybe he already went back to Chat Noir....He better not have taken my sketchbook! I panic filled me slightly as pulled out my notebook. It was then I heard Adrien let out a small noise of surprise as he opened his bag. He quickly closed it after he got his notebook and silently glared at it.

The teacher started to talk about some sort of story that we were supposed to read the night before. Which I didn't do. I sighed heavily as I started to doodle on the blank pages of the notebook. It wasn't long before my eyelids felt unusually heavy and I slowly drifted off. It felt like seconds later when I felt my self being shaken gently.

"Mari. Get up!" A voice said. "C'mon Marinette, we have to go." My eyes opened reluctantly to reveal Alya standing over me. "C'mon, we have to get to our next class."

"Next class?" I muttered lazily.

"Yes, let's go!"Alya had my bag on one of her shoulders. I quickly sat up when I realized I had slept through an entire class. I had never done that before.

Alya and I quickly moved to our next class, which went by much faster than I expected. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch.

"Nino and I are going to my place, do you want to come?" Alya asked.

"No thanks." I replied as we walked out of the school. "I'm still grounded, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. sorry. I guess I'll see you later." Alya slowly walked away from me, looking back a couple times to make sure I was okay. I sighed and focused on the ground as I started to walk back home. My mind could only focus on one thing as I walked, Adrien. The more I thought about him, the worse I felt about myself.

I was about to cross the street that lead right to my front door when suddenly-

"MARINETTE!" All I saw was black.


	12. Chapter 12

My hand was gripping onto some sort of black fabric as my head rested against something warm. I slowly raised my head up to see Adrien, sweaty and panting heavily. His head was turned to the side with his eyes fixated on something. It was then I noticed that his arms were wrapped tightly around my back. Curious as to what he was staring at, I slowly followed his gaze to see the final glimpse of red tail lights speeding away.

After Adrien was able to get his breathing under control, he looked down to me, loosening his hold on me. His green eyes staring directly into mine, they were full of concern.

 

"Are you all right?" He asked, his usually calm voice was wavering a bit. I continued to stare down the street, even though the tail lights were long gone. "Marinette?" My grip on his shirt tightened as I slowly pieced together what had just happened. I suddenly lost all strength in my legs and collapsed to my knees. Adrien followed, his arms still loosely around me. "Marinette...?" He muttered.

My mind was buzzing with thoughts while my heart rate increased. I felt my eyes started to water as I realized exactly what happened.

"Marinette." Adrien's voice brought me back to a semi-clear mind. I looked up to him, my tears starting to overflow.

"A-Adrien...?" I muttered, my lips quivering. "Adrien..." Tears streamed down my cheeks. I tugged on his shirt and pulled him closer as I buried my face in his chest. I started to sob loudly. "Thank you..." I felt him stroke my back as he pulled me in even closer, almost protectively. "Thank you." I sobbed harder. Adrien started to shush me.

"It's okay." He said, "You're safe with me. I'll protect you, Marinette." Adrien leaned closer to my ear. "Always." He whispered. I sobbing slowly stopped after he said this. I peaked up to him and saw he had a small smile on his face. "Are you okay now?" I nodded. Adrien carefully helped me to my feet. "I'll walk you home." He took a gentle grip on my arm and we began to slowly make our way across the street. I griped Adrien for support as my legs were still trembling in fear. He didn't seem to mind.

He walked me up to the front door, which suddenly swung open to reveal my mother, her face was full of worry.

"Oh, Marinette!" She cried wrapping her arms around me. "Are you all right?! I saw everything from the window upstairs!"

"I-I'm fine Maman." I replied, noticing Adrien pull away from me. "Thanks to Adrien." Mom immediately turned her attention to Adrien.

"Would you like to come inside, Adrien? It's cold out here!" She exclaimed. Adrien glanced over to the other side of the street for a second then looked back over to us.

"I shouldn't." He said. "I'm already late for a photoshoot." Adrien put an apologetic smile as he turned to leave. I quickly grabbed his wrist.

"Please..." I begged, "Just for a few minutes...?" Adrien looked at me, shock very evident on his face. I noticed his   
eyes evade mine for a second as he debated something within himself. His eyes then met mine again.

"I really shouldn't, Marinette." Adrien said. I pleaded with my eyes. He suddenly seemed flustered. "B-but... I'll come and check up on you later, okay?" I nodded and I slowly let go of his wrist. He smiled back to me. "I'll be back later." It was then Mom quickly rushed me into the house, closing the door as Adrien left.

We walked up the stairs and into the house.

"Sit down, Marinette. I'll make you some tea." Mom said, urging me to the couch. I took off my backpack and sat   
on the couch. I sighed heavily, noticing my hands were still shaking.

"I can't believe that just happened, Tikki." I whispered. "I-if it hadn't been for Adrien...I...I..." I stopped, feeling the tears coming back.

Mom then came into the room, holding a cup in her hands.

"Marinette, what's wrong?" She handed me the tea and sat beside me.

"I was just thinking." I replied, as she placed her arm around me and pulled me close to her.

"About what happened?"

"Yes... and about what would have happened if... Adrien-"

"Don't think like that, sweetie." Mom said, "It doesn't matter what would have happened, what matters it that you   
are safe."

"Yeah..." I took a sip of the tea.

"Why don't you stay home for the rest of the day? I think you need some rest." Mom said, "Go upstairs, I'll come   
check on you in a little bit."

"Okay." I stood up and slowly made my way up to my room. I immediately climbed up to my bed. Tikki flew out of my purse.

"Marinette?" She said.

"Tikki, I just want to rest."

"Okay." Tikki flew down to the table slowly, looking back every now and then. I stared at the ceiling of my room,   
my mind buzzed with all sorts of different thoughts. Before I knew it, I ended up falling asleep.

Tap, tap. The odd noise broke into my peaceful state. Although it awoke me from my sleep, I chose to ignore it and   
turned to my side. Tap tap. There it was again. Only louder. I groaned and sat up. I glanced around my dark room, barely able to make out the stairs that lead down to my main room. Where was the tapping coming from? Tap tap. I heard the tapping from above me. They were coming from my hatch that lead outside.

Curiously, I opened the hatch, letting the cool night time air enter my room. I shivered and quickly grabbed a small blanket and wrapped it around me. I then climbed up to my balcony. There, I was met with a pair of glowing green eyes.

"Hello, Princess."

"Ch-Chat Noir?!" I questioned. I would barely make out his silhouette in the light of the moon. "What are you doing   
here?"

"I heard about your near accident earlier today. I came to make sure you weren't hurt." Chat Noir replied.

"I'm fine." I said coarsely, "How did you hear about that anyway?"

"I have my ways."

"And what ways are those?" I asked, wrapping myself tighter in the blanket. I could barely see Chat Noir move one of his index fingers to his lips.

"I'm afraid that's a secret, Princess." I sighed.

"So..." I said, "Do you have an actual purpose of being here, or are you just here to annoy me?"

"Both." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going back to bed." I turned back toward the hatch.

"Wait." I felt Chat Noir's cold leathered hand grip my wrist. "I have something for you." He reached into one of the   
pockets on his torso. "Here."

He handed it to me, and I immediately knew what it was.

"M-my sketchbook?!" I exclaimed, "Where did you find this?!"

"That doesn't matter." He replied. "It means a lot to you, right?"

"Yes, thank you!" I said, smiling.

"Ah! There she is." I felt Chat Noir's cold fingers grip my chin gently. "There's my Princess." I looked at him   
questioningly. "You haven't been yourself the last few days."

"And how would you know that?" I asked. "Have you been stalking me?"

"What? Me? No, never! Let's just say, we happened to cross paths a few times the past couple days, and you

seemed... depressed." He gently moved my face closer to his, our noses touched softly. "I hate to see you in such an   
awful state."

"Ch-Chat Noir..." I muttered, feeling my cheeks start to burn. "D...don't-"

"Don't what?" He responded, I could tell he had a smirk on his face. "Y'know, I'm still waiting for my reward."

"Y-your r-reward...?"

"From last time." Chat Noir snaked his other arm around me and pulled me closer to him.

"No," I said sternly, trying to push him away. "This... this is wrong!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He moved his face closer, our lips were mere centimeters apart. I closed my   
eyes tightly, as I silently begged him to stop. I suddenly heard him chuckle and pull away. "You're so cute,   
Princess." I opened my eyes cautiously. Chat Noir was standing on the railing of my balcony. "I'll see you later." He quickly jumped off the railing and disappeared into the night.


End file.
